In whatever other ways we may study the Bible, there
is a personal use of it in closet devotions which no Christian
should fail to make. It will help us greatly in our devotional study, to
have a clear conception of the help the Bible is designed to bring to
us.

The Bible is our only infallible rule of faith and
conduct. It teaches us, according to an honored formula, "what we are
to believe concerning God — and what duty God requires of man."

We are to study the Bible, therefore, to learn about
God. It reveals to us the character of God. It tells us
what his perfections and attributes are. The Old Testament contains many
such revealings in what prophets taught and singers sang. Yet it is only
in the New Testament that we have the full revelation of God, when "the
Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory." Thus
in the Epistle to the Hebrews we read that "In the past God spoke to our
forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but
in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he
appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe!"
Hebrews 1:1-2

If we would know God's character and how he
regards us, we must study the Scriptures.

Then we are to look into the Scriptures also to learn
what our duty is — how we ought to live. This is made very plain
to us, not in any one chapter or section — but throughout the book.

However, the Bible does not merely give sets of rules
to tell us what to do in such and such cases; it gives, rather, great
principles which are to rule our life. For example, the sum of the
commandments is, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind," and "You shall love your
neighbor as yourself." Always, love of God is to be first, and is to
rule in every choice, in every decision. Then love to our neighbor is to
control us in all our human relationships.

In all our devotional reading, we should keep ever in
mind what the Bible is intended to be to us, and should read it to
learn what God's will for us is. This will give definiteness of
purpose to the study of the Scriptures. We shall not then open the book
at random and go over a few verses merely as a matter of duty. This is
the way some people always do with the Bible. They have been taught that
they should read it every day, and they would not dare to omit the duty.
But they have no conception of the reason why they do it. They do not
know what they are expected to find in it.

Such use of the Bible will yield no blessing. It
should be turned to with sincere reverence as containing the words of
God for us. Then we should be intent to accept its teachings and
take them into our life. If it reveals to us some fault in
ourselves — we should be quick to get rid of the fault. If it shows us
that something we are doing is sinful, displeasing God and
hurting our own souls — we should at once put away the offensive thing.
If as we read the sacred words, we become aware that we have been
failing in some duty of love to another, leaving undone something we
ought to do — then we should begin immediately to do the neglected duty.

If we have in our morning lesson a vision of some
loveliness of character not yet attained, we should not be disobedient
unto the heavenly vision — but should earnestly strive to attain the
lofty experience thus shown as possible to us. We may be discouraged
when we open the book, and in the passage we read there may be a word of
hope, calling us to victorious living. For the Bible, from first to
last, is a book of cheer. It never tells us that it is our duty to be
disheartened or to despair. Always it calls us to rise out of our fear
and failure and begin again. Always it assures us that there is no
reason for despair, that we need never give up, that out of the greatest
seeming failure we may become more than conquerors through Christ who
loves us. When this is the lesson we find in our daily passage, we
should at once lift up our heart and begin to rejoice.

Or we may be in sorrow, passing through a
bereavement or enduring a great loss. Then the message the Scripture has
for us is one of comfort. It is not enough to read the promises
or assurances which we find, paying no heed to them, not permitting them
to influence us. Rather we should take them as indeed God's words to
us and should let the truths they tell us into our heart, to help us
in our sorrow. For example, when we read the Master's "Peace I leave
with you; my peace I give unto you," we should instantly accept the gift
he offers, allowing his peace to take possession of us and to fill our
heart.

If we read the Bible in this way, in our devotional
closet it will become the guide of our life, the lamp for
our feet, the light for our path. A single verse in the morning,
if there is time for no more than a verse, will make us stronger for all
the day's duties and struggles!